He's a Time-bomb
by kiara.slayer
Summary: "Because if I didn't say anything, I could pretend it wasn't really happening. I could ignore it. If I told everyone, then the abuse would become real."
1. Chapter 1

Weee! It's been so long since I was on here to actually upload a new story!  
And what a way to come back. First FFVII story I've written, so people may be a little out of their element.. Sorrrrry :P

Be warned, this story is a little dark.. There's abusive, there's hints of rape later (though I'm not sure I'm ballsy enough to explicedly write that out..we'll see), and I'd like to think it tugs at the heart strings at certain points.

Obviously it's for Cloud and Tifa. Love those two with a passion.  
Okay, enough babble. On with the story.

Enjoy :3

**Disclaimer: I obviously own nothing that has to do with FFV7.**

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Denzel pulled his covers closer to his body and pushed his pillow harder against his ears. The alarm by his bed read 1:34 AM, but the hour seemed to have little impact on the man screaming his head off downstairs. He'd been at it for the past twenty minutes.

**"DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M SAYING?! YOU ARE MINE GOD DAMMIT. YOU DO NOT FLIRT WITH ANYONE ELSE OR WHORE YOURSELF OUT TO OTHER MEN."** The stomach churning sound of a hand viciously slapping skin reverberated through the bar and the upstairs floor. Denzel's eyes squeezed shut. There was more yelling from the man, but the young boy tried his best to block it out._ 'Always block out the words after the hit, Denzel. Always.' _Tifa's words echoed through his head.

"Block it out, block it out.. Block it out." He chanted quietly. Finally silence took over the whole building. One minute, two minutes, three minutes, four minut- crash. The sudden sound of glass shattering made Denzel jump. A loud thud of someone hitting something, or someone, echoed up through the air vents. Soon after, the bar's door was slammed shut. In less than a second Denzel was out of his room and down the steps. He slowed his pace and called out. "Tifa..?" His only response was a quiet sob. As he rounded the corner of the hall, Denzel's heart shattered.

Tifa sat slumped against the far wall. The side of her face was bright red, and streams of tears fell from her swollen wine colored eyes. Her hair fell around her face, framing it, while her fingers had clumsily set to picking up the shards of glass that were scattered on the wooden floor. A nearby bar stool was turned over, a table was pushed too far to the left, and there was a hole in the wall, no doubt from a fist. Denzel took a careful step towards her.

"Tifa..." The woman's head shot up.

"Denzel." His name came out roughly and sounded half sobbed. She took a breath to compose herself slightly. "Please, don't come any closer.." The breath had hardly helped. Her voice was hoarse and scratchy. "There's glass. Everywhere." Of course he didn't listen. He never listened. Denzel watched where his feet landed and was careful to avoid the shards.

"Stop.. Tifa. Please. You're gonna cut your fingers and hands up." He was beside her now. "We can clean it up tomorrow." Her ears heard him perfectly, but Tifa's brain didn't register any of his pleas.

"I need to clean this mess up..." Each shard she grabbed with her fingers was stained red. Anyone else they would have stopped and cried out from the pain and would have gone to clean the cuts out and would have saved it for the morning. But not Tifa. She couldn't seem to register the pain in her hands, and she didn't know why but this scared her. And so she clutched each piece of glass harder, only worsening her hands' condition. As she went for another shard, two smaller hands caught hers and held them in place. The older woman could have easily pushed her hands down and out of Denzel's grip, but her arms were numb.

"Just.. Stop." The shakiness of Denzel's command was the last straw. She pulled the boy close to her and just held him, sobbing. He felt his heart crumble at the sight. The woman who had become the mother he never got to keep, the one who was always so strong and resilient in the toughest of situations had never been this vulnerable before. At least never in front of him.

Not trusting his own voice, Denzel silently pushed upward. The motion was enough to get Tifa to rise, though he had to help keep her up. Maneuvering up the steps was difficult, to say the least, but after they'd reached the second story landing, it was fairly easy to get Tifa into her room. 7th Heaven's barmaid fell into a dreamless sleep in minutes of her head making contact with her pillow. Denzel quietly left her room, making sure to shut her door behind him and then made his way back to his. As he crawled into his bed, his eyes landed on the picture on his nightstand. It was the one of Tifa, himself, and of course, Cloud. Denzel's eyes lingered on the blonde. "Cloud...where are you? Why won't you just come home already?"

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**Chapter 1, finishedd.**

****Ummm, yeah. So I hope you guys didn't completely hate it.

I actually got the inspirtaion for this story from a dear friend of mine.  
And sorry it was so short.. The next chapter is much longer, I promise!

I'd love some feedback, so review! (even you guests who don't have an account and who are reading this. You can review too.)  
Review, Favorite, Follow. Whatever you want.


	2. Chapter 2

You guyzz, I loved all your comments!  
And here are some answers to your qustions:

**~Cloud didn't hit Tifa.  
~You'll be somewhat introduced to Tifa's abuser in this chapter. (His name will be dropped, but he himself won't appear until the _neeexxt _chapter.)  
~You'll see what happened to Cloud in like chapter four.  
~There's a super good reason for why Tifa doesn't fight back. That'll be revealed in a later chapter.. (:  
~In my mind this takes place sometime after Advent Children. Maybe like a year? So Denzel is still around that age.**

Anywho, I hope you lovely readers enjoy! This chapter is a little dry (it's really just a set up chapter), but it isn't tooooo bad.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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Tifa was abruptly awoken by Yuffie throwing her door open in a panic, screaming her name at the top of her lungs. She didn't even register who the girl was until she was nearly suffocated by the young ninja's embrace. Upon releasing her, Yuffie noticed the now black and blue mark that marred the right side of Tifa's usually flawless face. It was large, extending from the corner of her eye to the base of her cheek, and it was swollen. The corner of her lip was slightly bruised as well.

"What. The. Fuck. Happened?!" Tifa opened her mouth to answer but was cut off by the other girl. "Who the fuck did that to you?" The barmaid stared blankly before looking away. Before Yuffie could say anything else, Aerith entered the room with Denzel at her side.

"Yuffie, Denzel is fi-" The brunette's attention was captured by Tifa's bruise. "Tifa! What in heaven's name happened?!" Each word that left her lips was dripping with concern. It made the raven haired girl's stomach drop.

"Nothing." She looked to Yuffie, "And no one did this to me. I just tripped while clos-"

"Stop lying for him!" Aerith and Yuffie looked to Denzel.

"_Him_?" The word left both their mouths in unison. Tifa's eyes pleaded with Denzel not to say anything, but he wasn't looking at her to see that. And though she couldn't prove it, she had a sneaking suspicion that that was on purpose.

"Marcello." The two looked shocked, to say the least. Yuffie just stared at Denzel with slight disbelief on her face, Aerith's gaze went straight to Tifa.

"Teef.." She was at a loss for words. She knew Marcello. Everyone knew Marcello. He was one of the nicest, most easygoing guys in all of Edge. He was a tall, built guy, and was very handsome. Aerith couldn't think of a single time she saw someone yell at Marcello, say they disliked him, or vise versa. He was a skilled carpenter and electrician in Edge.

He was also a regular at 7th Heaven. That's how Tifa had met him. It was apparent that Marcello had had a thing for her since they met, but she'd always waited and been there for Cloud and never acknowledged the other man as more than a friend. And then five months ago, Cloud disappeared again without so much as a goodbye. It was shocking to everyone when a month later, Marcello asked Tifa out on a date and she accepted. The two's relationship had steadily become more serious with each date that followed, and Tifa was noticeably smiling more. When they told her friends that they were officially an item two months ago everyone was thrilled. Though even with all the changes, Tifa would still call Cloud on occasion simply to make sure he was doing okay, and he had yet to answer her calls.

"How could he do this?" Yuffie's question broke the silence. "He's the last person I would have ever pegged as an abuser.." Tifa couldn't meet anyone's gaze. How could she not tell at least Aerith or Yuffie? But how would she have been able to tell them? "I'm calling Barret. And Cid. And Vinny. And Zack. And Shera. Fuck it, I'm calling everyone!" Tifa's head shot up, her eyes wide.

"Yuffie, please... Don't." Tifa's voice was weak. A sympathetic look was given, but no begging was going to stop Yuffie.

"Tifa, I'm sorry, but I have to. This isn't okay. You _need _to talk about this. This isn't something that we're just gonna let you push under the rug." Without another word Yuffie left the room, phone in hand. Denzel went with her, mumbling something about going to clean up the remaining glass shards. Aerith silently watched as her friend curled up in a tight ball on her bed looking absolutely defeated.

"She's doing this because she cares."

"I know." If Aerith hadn't been listening for an answer, she would have missed those mumbled words. Gently she walked over to the bed and sat on the edge of it, her hand softly landing on Tifa's arm. It was instantly retracted when the girl beside her flinched at the touch. And that was all it took for the dots to connect.

"Last night wasn't the first time he's hit you.." A sniffle was all Aerith got in response.

* * *

An hour and a half. It had only taken an hour and a half for everyone that Yuffie called to get from wherever they were to Edge. She'd been vague in the phone calls, obviously so that Tifa could explain everything herself, but the urgency in her voice and the words _'Tifa needs us.' _and _'She's in trouble.'_ were motivation enough for them. Barret had thought it had something do with Cloud, but Yuffie had simply said Cloud was in no way involved. And that's all she said.  
The only background they had had come from Zack. Aerith and Yuffie were supposedly planning on forcing Tifa to come shopping with them since she never had the free time to go alone. So the group had been sitting around for the last fifteen minutes waiting for someone to tell them something.

"Yuffie, where's Aerith?" The young ninja looked to Zack.

"Upstairs still. Probably trying to get Tifa to come down here." He blinked at her.

"Why doesn't Tifa doesn't wanna come down? Didn't you say she was the one in trouble?"

"Weeeellll, yeah. But she kind of didn't want me to call everyone.. Teef really doesn't want anyone to know about what's going on." Cid groaned out loud at the girl's statement.

"Yuffie, ya can't make her come down here and tell us bout her issues if she doesn't want to! Christ, you're too nosey sometimes."

"Look, I know it was pushy of me. But she really does need us. Something really really bad is happening, and she's too.. I don't know... Lost..? And scared to get help and handle it alone." Barrette was about to ask her to elaborate, but a creak on the stairs stopped him.

Aerith came down first, and Zack was immediately worried. The smile she always wore was nowhere to be found. Before he could even open his mouth to ask what was wrong, Tifa appeared. His, and everyone else's focus was instantly on her. And, of course, the unsightly bruise on her face.

"Wha- Who the hell did that?!" Tifa completely disregarded Zack's question and instead turned to Yuffie.

"I asked you to _**not**_ call anyone, Yuffie!" Her voice was angry, but that didn't carry through to her eyes. If anything, they held a defeated and exhausted look.

"And I told you that I had too! This is a serious issue!" Tifa huffed and plopped down in a nearby chair. She looked to the floor, avoiding any and all eye contact with those around her.

"Tif..?" After what felt like an hour, Tifa's eyes finally moved from the floor to Zack. He was still expecting an answer, she could tell. How on earth was she supposed to tell everyone? She didn't even know how to begin. _'Just answer his question.. Take a deep breath and tell them..' _

She inhaled sharply and opened her mouth to speak, but the words wouldn't come out. Tifa's eyes went to the floor. She couldn't do it. _'What the hell is wrong with me?'_

"Tifa?" Her head rose slowly to look at Aerith. "We only want to help you. This can't be easy to talk about...but we're your friends, and we're here for you." The others nodded their heads in agreement with the flower girl's comment.

A weak smile crossed the barmaid's lips. "I know." Her voice was soft and even Vincent could tell she was holding tears back. Tifa closed her eyes and as she exhaled, the answer to Zack's question finally escaped her mouth. "Marcello."

She was met with wide eyes and gasps. A stream of profanities escaped Cid's mouth and Barrette's expression was one of pure horror. Zack had jumped out of his seat at some point.

"Are you fucking serious?! I'll gonna kill that fucking prick!" Tifa had expected that much from her friend. Zack had become much like an older brother to her, and he was as protective of Tifa as he was of Aerith. Said woman put a hand on her boyfriend's arm.

"I don't think screaming like that is helping the situation.." Her gentle gaze shifted back to Tifa. The raven haired woman knew _exactly _what her friend was about to ask, as she had heard Aerith say something about it upstairs. And Tifa hoped to god she wouldn't bring it up. "Teef, has he hit you before?" Tifa inwardly cringed. She couldn't meet anyone's gaze.

"...Yeah." A long sigh left her mouth. "He has been since eight days into our relationship.." She felt Yuffie embrace her instantly and cringed at the sudden contact.

"Why didn't you say anything, you big butt-head?" Yuffie's words were soft. And they undid her completely, for reasons Tifa couldn't even begin to explain. Sobs raked through the barmaid's body and she clung to the ninja. It was a heartbreaking scene, even to Vincent.

"I don-" Tifa stopped herself. _'No. No more lies.'_ She took a deep breath to stop her sobs. "Because..if I didn't say anything, I could pretend like nothing was wrong... I could pretend like it wasn't really happening." No one could comprehend her thought process. Zack was of course the one to voice it.

"Why would ignoring it help? I don't get it. The bruises would still be there. The pain… The thought of it happening again and again. _How _could you ignore it?" Before Tifa could answer, an even bigger question found its way into his head. "And why did he assault you last night!?"

"It was really busy here last night. I guess in the blur of serving drinks and taking orders I started getting too friendly with some of the cusomers. I didn't even notice, but I must have overstepped my boundaries. After I closed the bar down Marcello started yelling. He pushed a table out of his way and knocked over a bar stool to get to me.. He grabbed my arm with one hand and just slapped me with his free one, still screaming at me. He was so angry... He slammed his fist into the wall right by my head and then backed up. Before he turned to leave he grabbed a nearby beer mug and aimed it at me. I ducked and it shattered against the wall. Then he just stormed out and slammed the door behind him." It was odd, she sounded so detached as she told them all what happened. Tifa sighed and looked to the hole in the wall. "It was my fault. I was too touchy with the customers. That's usually why he does it."  
Yuffie and Aerith just blinked, completely dumbfounded.

"Are you joking?! **TIFA.** Don't you **DARE** say that him hitting you was your fault! I've seen how you talk to the customers! It's how I talk to them and how Aerith talks to them! And there's absolutely nothing _too touchy _about it." Yuffie looked like she was ready to cry. "Tifa, this relationship needs to end."

"I second that. If this prick is willing to throw fucking glass mugs at your head and hit you just because you were doing your job, there's something wrong."

"He may even stop looking for excuses to attack you, Tifa..." Aerith's tone made Tifa shutter. "I don't know why he started this, but it could only get worse..."

"He started this because of me. I was always worrying about Cloud and where he had gone. Marcello was just frustrated with how little attention I was giving him.."

"And that gives him the right to knock ya 'round? Teefs, nothing on the fucking Planet gives him the right to do that." Shera nodded in agreement with Cid.

"No no. I just.. I just wasn't the perfect girlfriend."

"There's no such thing as a _perfect girlfriend_. No matter how great a relationship is, it's gonna have some problems! The people aren't gonna be perfect, they aren't always gonna see things eye to eye." Zack looked to Aerith and then back to Tifa. "You think me and Aerith get along every single day? You think we do everything perfectly? Absolutely not! But that doesn't mean I feel like I have the right to beat her up! The point of being in a relationship and loving someone is to be with them, and to _protect them_." Yuffie cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brows.

"Why are you defending him? He's done nothing to deserve this kind of loyalty from you!" A weak shrug was all she got.  
Tifa had no idea what to say. She was at a loss. Why _was_ she trying to rationalize what he had done? Why was she defending the man who hit her? He talked down to her almost every day now, making her feel useless and weak, making her feel like she should be grateful that he was wasting his time on her, and here she was trying to say how _she_ was the one at fault. Why? Why why why why _why_? And the answer was absolutely pathetic. _'Because he was here. Because he hasn't left.'_ She laughed cruelly at herself. _'Ha. You don't get much more pathetic than that.'_

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**I BET YOU GUYS DIDN'T SEE AERITH AND ZACK COMING! Tehehe :3  
I really love them both, and I hated that they died. I was toying with making them the little voices in Tifa and (eventually) Cloud's heads, but I really needed Aerith in this to add more femininuity (Yuffie can't do it all on her own guys!). And then I was just like fuck it, if Aerith comes back Zack comes back.**

**And you know what's great? Since it's MY story, I can fucking do that(;**

Okay, I think I might have the next chapter up later today. Cause I actually have the next two done, it is now just a matter of me being really lazy.

Alright, review, do whatever. Dueces!


	3. Chapter 3

Fastest update of my life right here!  
This chapter is more focused around Denzel. He basically saves the day ^_^

I don't know what else to say, and I otherwise have nothing else to cover right now... So,  
**ON WITH THE STORY!**

**Enjoy(:**

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A week had come and gone, and nothing changed. Tifa stayed with Marcello. She didn't know why, but she couldn't end it. Cid and Zack were almost positive that it was because she was too afraid of what he'd do if she tried to end it.  
And of course Tifa finally fessing up about her boyfriend's abusive nature did nothing. Sure, after awhile it felt nice knowing that her friends were there for her, and she found herself confiding in Aerith and Yuffie a lot, but what could they really _do _about it? If they said anything to Marcello about it or threatened him or kicked his ass, it was almost guaranteed that he'd hurt Tifa. Everyone's hands were tied. Every day they had to act like they knew nothing, smile, and talk to the man was hurting their friend. It was just sick.

* * *

Denzel was walking home from school with Marlene, well, more like running. The two had decided to take a detour to a small bakery that was a few streets over from where 7th Heaven was and they did it every couple of days, so they knew Tifa wouldn't get too worried. As they were waiting for the pastries they ordered, a familiar voice boomed out behind them. Marlene didn't notice, as she had only heard it twice, and she was too preoccupied with watching the bakers make the food through the glass window. But Denzel almost crawled out of his skin when he heard it.

"Ha, tonight I'll get some. Guaranteed." The man was on his cellphone, so Denzel couldn't hear the whole conversation. "Oh please, she's too much of a pushover. I just have to raise a fist at her and she does whatever I tell her to." Pause. "Why would I worry about _him_? I made sure he was completely out of the picture." Long pause. "HA! Tifa probably thinks he's dead by this point. Almost six months, and not even a phone call? Even she can't be that idiotic." Another pause. "Her friends? As dense as ever. They don't know a damned thing. Thank god she surrounds herself with dumbasses and pushovers." Denzel was thanking god that the people behind the counter were running behind. He needed to hear everything. "What am I gonna do, you ask? Psh, simple. Tell her I want sex. She'll say she wants to wait, and I'll let her know I'm done waiting. I'm fucking her tonight, whether she likes it or not." Gut wrenching long pause. "Hahahahahaha, yeah, I guess you could call me that. But guess what, it's her fault." As he said that, the woman behind the counter went to take his order and he hung up.

Denzel felt like he was going to vomit on the spot, but he shook it off and didn't waste a second. _'I need to get back home. Aerith and Yuffie will know what to do.'_ The moment his and Marlene's orders were ready, he grabbed them, grabbed Marlene's arm, snuck out of the store without anyone noticing, and took off down the road. When he saw his destination come into view, his legs seemed to move even faster. Marlene was whining and telling him to slow down, but he only did that as he threw the door open and skidded to a halt. He was beyond thankful when he saw Aerith and Yuffie sitting at a nearby window table.  
The two girls were watching Zack and Cid try to out drink the other, Barret pouring the drinks as they emptied. There were quite a few people sitting around, either watching the men in their drinking game, watching one of the five small TVs, or just chatting. Even though the bar didn't open for business until 3:30, Tifa had an open door every day but Sunday, and customers and passerby's could come and go and just sit and relax.  
He let his grip on Marlene go and he went over to where Tifa's two best friends sat, trying to avoid running into anyone.

"Aerith, Yuffie!" Both heads turned and smiled at the boy.

"Hiya Denz!"

"Guys, I need your help." He had no time to waste. Concern grew in Aerith.

"What's wrong?" Denzel looked around; making sure no one was nearby.

"It's Marcello.." Both women stiffened. Of course it had to do with him. "Marlene and I went to that small bakery a few streets over after school, and he was there. He was a few people behind us, and he was talking on his cell phone." Again the boy looked over his shoulder. "I think he knows what happened to Cloud.. He said 'Why _would I worry about _him_? I made sure he was completely out of the picture.'_ He didn't say who _him_was, but I just know it has to be Cloud..." Aerith was about to say something, but Denzel hastily continued. "And that's not all! I- I think he's gonna hurt Tifa tonight."

"Why?" Yuffie's answer was automatic.

"He told the person he was on the phone with that he was gonn-" The bell that sounded the bar door being opened rang out and cause Denzel to pause and see who it was. The boy visibly paled. _'No! No no no! Why is he here?!'_ Of all the people to walk through the door, it just had to be Marcello. Said man looked around, his hazel eyes looking at every single person in bar. Annoyance grew in them quickly and he turned to where Denzel was sitting. As he approached, Denzel stiffened. _'Did he see me and Marlene at the bakery? Does he know I over heard him?'_

"Yuffie, Denzel, Aerith." His tone was way too cheery.

"Hello Marcello." Leave it to Aerith to be able to deliver such a sweet hello. "What brings you to Seventh Heaven? I thought you had appointments all day?" Marcello gave her a smile.

"Ahh, why, I'm here to see my beautiful girlfriend. I managed to move some of my times around and finished most of the appointments this morning. You see, I have a rather romantic evening planned for Tifa tonight. I just need to tell her to be ready at seven sharp."

"What's the occasion big guy?" His attention went to Yuffie.

"What, can't a guy treat his girl like a princess just for the hell of it?" Yuffie and Aerith forced up girlish giggles at his statement. "But in all seriousness. I made a mistake and have a trip to Rocket Town all planned and booked on our three month anniversary this weekend. There's a convention for some new technology that will help electricians do an even more efficient job. And I'm booked solid with appointments starting tomorrow. So, I'm gonna make it up to her tonight."

"I'm sure she'll appreciate the gesture. Tifa's upstairs, let me go get her." He nodded his thanks to Aerith. As she headed up the stairs, Marcello took a seat near a TV to check out the local news. Yuffie took the opportunity to turn to Denzel.

"Why do you think he's gonna hurt Teef?" She whispered her question to the boy. "What did he say to the guy on the phone?" Denzel looked over to Marcello before whispering back to the ninja. Seeing he had entered a conversation with the man next to him about what the TV had said, he leaned over to Yuffie.

"He said something about _getting some_tonight and that no matter what Tifa's answer was, he'd make it happen. Whether she liked it or not..." Yuffie's eyes widened.

"Whaaat!?" Her whisper was louder than it was supposed to be, but the noise in the room kept it from being heard by anyone but Denzel. "Denz, this is bad. Very very very bad."

"Yeah, I know. But what can we do to stop it?" Yuffie sat back in her seat and thought. Her eyes traveled to where Zack and Cid were. Their drinking game was on a pause, as Cid had received a call from Shera. He had slightly pink cheeks, probably from something his wife said, and was scratching the back of his head _'Aww, he stops his fun to answer her calls. That's sweet of hi- **THAT'S IT!** Shit, I'm a genius!'_She abruptly leaned over to Denzel, startling him slightly.

"I've got it! We make it so that they aren't alone." Denzel cocked his head to the side.

"How do we do that?" Yuffie's eyes went back to Cid, and Denzel followed her line of sight.

"We send two people to the same restaurant as Tifa and Marc, two people who he couldn't assume were trying to spoil any kind of plan or _rather romantic evening_." The boy's eyes widened in delight.

"Cid and Shera! They could make sure that Tifa and Marcello stay out really late and go to their own homes!" Yuffie winked at him.

"Exactly." As Yuffie said that, Denzel notice out of the corner of his eye that Marcello was leaving. He almost started worrying that the man had overheard him and Yuffie somehow, but Tifa kicking Barret out from behind the bar told him otherwise. The woman was yelling about them giving free shots and drinks to some of the other patrons.

"You three owe me 48 bucks!"

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**Chapter 3, done!**

**Review, follow, favorite, do whatever!  
I love hearing what you guys have to say. Just be polite if it's any kind of critisizm(;**


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